Great Green Wall of the Sahel

See my posting on the Fertilizer Tree. These guys do have the right idea.A tree belt, however narrow, delineates a line and encourages work to strengthen the lands south of the lands.In time these lands will prosper, and if also reforested with acacia that amazingly does not compete with ordinary crops, Then perhaps we will see a restoration of daily rains during part of the year.In time we will see the line begin to move northward.

The management of the Sahel is common right across all of Africa in a band south of the Sahara.Restoration of an Acacia agro base should permit the Sahara itself to be fully reclaimed over the centuries even if we do not introduce the Eden machine to harvest water from the atmosphere.It certainly was fully vegetated during the Bronze Age when the goat was introduced.

This tells us that at least one government has gone out to make a dramatic gesture that gets everyone’s attention.This is leadership and begins the process.I do not think it is a false start at all because today the cell phone is plugging everyone in to what their neighbors are doing and most importantly if it is working.

Africa-wide "Great Green Wall" to Halt Sahara's Spread?

China built its famous Great Wall to keep out marauders. Now, millennia later, a "Great Green Wall" may rise in Africa to deter another, equally relentless invader: sand.

The proposed wall of trees would stretch fromSenegaltoDjiboutias part of a plan to thwart the southward spread of the Sahara, Senegalese officials said earlier this month at the UN's Copenhagen climate conference.

The trees are meant "to stop the advancement of the desert," Senegalese president and project leader Abdoulaye Wade told National Geographic News in Copenhagen.

In many central and West African countries surrounding the Sahara,climate changehas slowed rainfall to a trickle, according to the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Crops have died and soils have eroded—crippling local agriculture. If the trend continues, the UN forecasts that two-thirds of Africa's farmland may be swallowed by Saharan sands by 2025 (explore an interactiveSahara map).

Trees are almost always formidable foes against encroaching deserts, said Patrick Gonzalez of the University of California, Berkeley's Center for Forestry.

That's because stands of trees act as natural windbreaks against sandstorms, and their roots improve soil health—especially by preventing erosion.

But choosing the right tree species to populate the wall will be crucial to the project's success, Gonzalez said via email.

Similar tree-planting efforts by outside agencies have failed, he said, in part because they planted foreign species that soon perished in the harsh desert.

"We Have to Do What We Have to Do"

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo first proposed the idea of a desert-blocking wall in 2005, and it was approved by the African Union in 2007.

All 11 countries that would house the Great Green Wall have pledged to help fund the project.

But the wall has been slow to break ground: Of the 4,350 miles (7,000 kilometers) it needs to cover, only about 326 miles (525 kilometers) have been planted so far, all within Senegal.

In Copenhagen, President Wade emphasized that he has made the wall a priority, and he has already asked scientists working on the project to choose species hardy enough to survive in arid conditions without maintenance.

"One thing the president has insisted is … we have to begin the work now, right now," added Ndiawar Djeng, advisor to the Senegalese environment minister.

"If other international committees follow us, that's OK. If not, we have to do what we have to do," Djeng told National Geographic News.